Parkland's Kyle Stout (35) passes the ball past Allen's Jahi Shepherd (22). The Parkland High School boys basketball team played William Allen High School in the SportsFest championship game at Cedar Creek Park in Allentown in July 2014.

Parkland's Kyle Stout (35) passes the ball past Allen's Jahi Shepherd (22). The Parkland High School boys basketball team played William Allen High School in the SportsFest championship game at Cedar Creek Park in Allentown in July 2014. (EMILY PAINE, THE MORNING CALL)

How will being sanctioned by the NCAA boost the A-Town Throwdown basketball tournament?

While the high school summer basketball tournaments at Cedar Beach each July are much anticipated events and always well attended, one of the negatives is that the teams are often not at full strength.

That's because star players for both local and non-area teams are often away at major AAU events where they can gain exposure to Division I coaches.

Well, the SportsFest tournament, better known to some as the "A-Town Throwdown," is taking a major step to attract teams and top players to Allentown while also trying to give our own talented kids more of a reason to stay around for the whole weekend.

The SportsFest tournament is being sanctioned by the NCAA starting this summer, making it an open event for all college coaches to come and check out the talent on display in the 48-team varsity tournament July 16-19.

"Coaches have asked us to sanction our event to make it more appealing to kids who have been going away to AAU events," A-Town Throwdown executive director Chris Lakatosh said. "We have asked for feedback from coaches on this and all have been positive to getting sanctioned. The idea is to gain exposure for the kids."

Lakatosh explained that it took a long, detailed application process for the tournament to meet all the criteria and comply with the vast amount of NCAA rules and regulations.

"It was a really a large questionnaire and quite a process," Lakatosh said. "We were rejected the first time or two because there were clarification issues and there is an educational process that the coaches and players have to go through."

Lakatosh was helped out through the process by his tournament co-directors Randy Atiyeh and Toomey Anderson.

Atiyeh, who did a lot of the NCAA research, said that the coaches must complete a brief online course and once the teams are at the tournament, everyone must watch a 10-minute educational video.

"We're going to probably set up a tent, run the educational video continuously and have all the teams go in there when they get to the tournament," Atiyeh said. "We may have several teams go in there and watch it at once."

There is a $40 fee, according to the NCAA website, that each coach must pay in advance, or it goes up to $55 during the event itself. Rosters with each participating player must also be submitted in advance.

So the fees and paperwork will increase, but the SportsFest staff feels it will all be worthwhile in the end.

"Our tournament has so many pieces that contribute to its success, however, the main piece is our student athletes," Atiyeh, who also the Allen High junior varsity coach, said. "This is our way to do something for them and give back to the kids by giving them the opportunity here in our area to be evaluated and play in a NCAA-sanctioned event during the live Division I recruiting period.

"It's an awesome feeling to play in that type of atmosphere and some of the kids experience that during other AAU events they attend. However, this would be a first for most of them because it would be an outdoor event with huge crowds and the buzz around Cedar Beach would be at an all-time high."

Anderson, who has been running AAU programs for years, agreed.

"College coaches will travel to where the players they are identifying are playing," he said. "By sanctioning the event and drawing higher level players and teams, combined with the unique atmosphere SportsFest provides, we feel our tournament will be one of the premier stops during the live evaluation period."

The Stellar Construction "Catch A Rising Star" Showcase, which will run the preceding week from July 8-12, will not change its status.

"We have considered it in the past, but we don't want to put an additional burden on the coaches to go through a course and pay more money," Stellar tournament director Glen Klein said. "We feel we have a very successful, very competitive tournament with the current format. The coaches like how we do our tournament. We just worry about our tournament, nobody else.

"We already have three-quarters of our field filled up for this year with 48 of 64 teams committed and it's only April."

Lakatosh, though, believes the NCAA sanction will elevate his tournament, and ultimately, the level of competition for area teams.

"We can add a larger field of players, keep more of our talented kids here and we'll get added to the NCAA's website as far as the list of sanctioned events go," Lakatosh said. "We can start marketing ourselves to coaches who can't come now. We're always going to try to build the quality of our event and we want to make Cedar Beach a destination for the best high school ball.

"So much has been said about how can the Lehigh Valley get to the next level in the state tournament. Well, you get to the next level by playing the best competition and by getting this sanction and bringing the best coaches here, the competition will follow."

Lakatosh announced that his A-Town Throwdown staff will also oversee the girls tournament starting this July and that tournament will also go to a pool-play format that guarantees each team three games with a set schedule.

Jessica Phillips will be the new A-Town Throwdown girls basketball director.